Sponges are known to be used to clean and wipe crockery. Typically, these sponges have an absorbent portion made from a synthetic or plant material capable of absorbing liquids inside the sponge on which is assembled an abrasive layer intended to scrub the crockery.
However, these are the same sponges generally used in households to wipe damp surfaces. Yet these sponges, although they are able to absorb liquids, nonetheless have poor wiping properties and can leave behind traces of water on the surfaces treated.
Cleaning cloths made from woven microfibres exist, providing improved wiping properties, and more particularly for wiping grease. However, these cloths are thin and are capable of fraying, which reduces their product life or the type of surface on which they are used. On the other hand, they have a lesser liquid retention capacity compared to a sponge.
A first known solution consists in applying a layer of microfibres on absorbent sponges to increase the wiping power of conventional sponges. This is particularly the case for the products described in documents US-A-2011/0239394 and FR-A-2 915 075. Other triple-layered sponges including a layer of microfibres are also known in document FR-A-2 958 525. Similarly, documents WO 97/49326 and U.S. Pat. No. 4,525,411 describe sponges on which a textile microfibre layer is bonded using an adhesive.
However, it is not easy to use microfibre materials in conventional sponge manufacturing methods, which generally consist of assembling sheets with each other in the form of an assembly which is then cut to the dimensions of the sponge.
Indeed, the microfibre materials demonstrate a strong tendency to become deformed and come apart when cut. This is particularly why microfibre cloths are generally equipped with sewn edges to prevent the material from fraying. Document US-A-2011/0239394 highlights this problem while proposing to chamfer the sponge edges so as to reduce degradation of the microfibre layer.